In today's interconnected world, the role of public relations is critical in disaster recovery planning. Here are three tips to ensure your policies will cover you in these situations.
Communicate quickly
Communication expectations are increasing. In any disaster situation it is important to get in front of the situation before it gets ahead of you. Older public relations guidelines call for waiting 24 to 48 hours before relaying the particulars of the situation, but in today's ever connected media landscape, that may not be realistic.
Use social media to your advantage
Social media has changed how people connect in the world and can no longer be ignored in disaster recovery planning. Much like with more traditional forms of communication, the challenge with social media is in stopping the dissemination of misinformation or information released publicly that your company is not ready to release.
Employees need to know that using social media in a disaster situation is not their priority and the need to refrain from commenting publicly on the situation. Using your company's accounts, comment in a unified way when you are ready.
Social media snafu
There are many examples of people being relieved of their duties due to comments on social media, regardless of whether or not those comments pertained to their job. If one of your employees puts something inappropriate on one of their social media accounts, your company needs to be prepared to deal with it.
Make sure your employees know that their social media is for personal use only and should not contain comments or information referencing their job. Also, make sure they are aware of the potential audience that can see their comments. Even if a message is deleted, the internet inevitably finds a way to uncover it.
There are so many factors to keep in mind when disaster recovery planning that it can help to have an extra pair of hands working on the problems. Investing in consultants is the best way to bring experts in to ensure your strategies are up to par.